HARTMUT WESSLER is Professor of Mass Communication at Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. He is the co-author of Transnationalization of Public Spheres, and writes on the media and the public sphere. BERNHARD PETERS (1949-2005) was Professor of Political Theory at the University of Bremen, Germany. He completed his PhD with Jnrgen Habermas, and wrote widely on the public sphere and political theory.

• Preface; J.Habermas Study of the Public Sphere: Bernhard Peters' Interest and Contribution; H.Wessler & L.Wingert PART 1: PUBLIC SPHERE AND PUBLIC DISCOURSE: BASIC CONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS Law, State and the Political Public Sphere; B.Peters The Meaning of the Public Sphere; B.Peters On Public Deliberation and Public Culture: B.Peters PART 2: FORMS AND FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC DELIBERATION Functional Capacity; B.Peters Contemporary Journalism and its Contribution to a Discursive Public Sphere; B.Peters, T.Schultz & A.Wimmel "Red Biotechnology" in Media Debate; B.Peters, H.Wessler, M.Ecker-Ehrhardt, C.Dereje & M.Sindram PART 3: TRANSNATIONALISATION AND DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY National and Transnational Public Spheres; B.Peters Segmented Europeanisation. Trends and Patterns in the Transnationalisation of Public Spheres in Europe; M.Brüggemann, S.Sifft, K. Kleinen-von Königslöw, B.Peters & A.Wimmel Public Discourse, Identity and the Problem of Democratic Legitimacy; B.Peters